Since launching back in 2000 with Zaha Hadid, the Serpentine Gallery’s annual pavilion series has featured work by some of the most noted architects in the industry — from Oscar Niemeyer to SANAA. Today it was announced that controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will be reteaming with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron (his collaborators on the iconic “Bird’s Nest” stadium in Beijing, pictured here) to create this year’s temporary structure. What can we expect to see in Hyde Park? Their vision calls for “a bowl-shaped auditorium carved into the earth and protected by a flat, circular steel roof raised five feet above ground level.” Supporting that roof will be “columns that thematically echo the designs of the previous eleven pavilions,” as well as a “wild card” column reflecting their own contribution.
“As we dig down into the earth we encounter a diversity of constructed realities such as telephone cables and former foundations,” the trio said in a cryptic statement. “Like a team of archaeologists, we identify these physical fragments as remains of the eleven Pavilions built between 2000 and 2011.” Look for the finished product to open to the public in June, when the Serpentine Gallery will host a major exhibition of Yoko Ono’s work. [via ArtsBeat]
If you’re the kind of person who can’t help but swoon when you come across a smartly-conceived building — or who bristles when confronted with a shoddy structure that resembles nothing more than a great, big box of ugly — then you’re going to love this 3D typography series by UK-based graphic designer Christopher Labrooy, which pays homage to the work of famed architects like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Toyo Ito, and Oscar Niemeyer. Click through to see what he’s come up with so far, and leave your nominations for who he should tackle next in the comments. We’re thinking Renzo Piano. Or Steven Holl. Or SANAA. Or Jeanne Gang. Really, he can’t go wrong!
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Many people were surprised when Baghdad-born, London-based starchitect Zaha Hadid was commissioned to design the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University back in 2008; it would be her first university building, and at that time, only her second project here in the US. But now that the museum has finally overcome its previous funding issues/battles with local taggers, and is finally nearing completion, it will be interesting to hear what the naysayers think of the end result — an angular building with an aluminum and glass exterior that appears to be slicing through its surrounding landscape. Click through to check out some interesting work-in-progress photos, and if you happen to be in East Lasing on April 21st of next year, be sure to hit up the grand opening, where Hadid herself is expected to make an appearance. Read More »
Last night’s announcement of the MacArthur Foundation’s yearly $500,000 “genius” grants brought with it a pleasant surprise: for the first time in more than a decade an architect has made the coveted list. (Samuel Mockbee, the founder of Auburn University’s Rural Studio, was honored back in 2000.) Find out more about Jeanne Gang, the 47-year-old founder of Studio Gang Architects, and view a list of this year’s other cultural “geniuses,” after the jump.
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What do you get when you ask a Pritzker Prize-winning architect like Zaha Hadid to design your pool? An elegant, undulating structure that’s surprising delicate for something that’s largely made out of concrete — and the perfect home for the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo events at the London 2012 Olympic Games. According to Design Boom, the £269m centre — whose wave-shaped roof weighs more than 3,000 tons — can hold up to 17,500 spectators at a time and contains more than 850,000 tiles throughout its pools, changing facilities, and floors. “The aim was to do a pool for the legacy,” Hadid has said. “It was very important that this project had a long-term, balanced effect.” Click through to get a closer look at the recently completed structure, and let us know in the comments how you think it stacks up against the far more bubbly Beijing Water Cube.
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While things not be going as well for her Olympic aquatics center in London, earlier this week Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House — which also happens to be her first completed project in China — opened its doors to the public. Inspired by “the organic forms of two fused boulders,” the geometric, waterfront structure houses a 1,800-seat auditorium, making it the third largest performance center in the country. Click through to get a better look at the space, including shots of the undulating interior and a behind-the-scenes look at the construction process.
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With the rise of starchitect culture in recent decades, there has been a subsequent rise in the number of museums designed by celebrity architects. (It was believed that if a big name was behind a building, it would attract more attention, and in turn, visitors. Makes sense.) Click through to check out 10 of the most eye-catching modern museums on the planet — including a few that are still currently in progress — and we think you’ll see why it works.
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1. Conan O’Brien tweeted that he will announce the name of his new TBS show today, but assures us that it won’t be The Return of Nanny McPhee. Update: It’s Conan.
2. Animated versions of the cast of Glee and The Flight of the Conchords dudes will be featured in the season premiere of The Simpsons in an episode about Lisa attending a performing arts camp. [via Extra]
3. Bollywood is doing a Jesus Christ biopic that will shoot in the Holy Land and feature an all-Indian cast. [via Guardian]
4. UK-based starchitect Zaha Hadid, who was born in Baghdad, is working on her first building in Iraq, a new headquarters for the Central Bank. [via ARTINFO]
5. The Village Voice asks: In the wake of so many departed veteran reporters, is New York City’s “golden gossip era” dead?
Download: DJ Wait What’s latest album of hip-hop and indie rock mashups
Featuring an introduction by Zaha Hadid, Saeb Eigner’s powerful new book traces a century of fine art from a region where painting a Cubist–style portrait of a woman is a revolutionary act.
Art of the Middle East is a sumptuous encyclopedia of more than 220 artists, from the internationally renowned (Shirin Neshat and Mona Hatoum, starchitect Hadid), to Westerners taking their influences to heart (José Parlá), to lesser-known, persecuted voices. Being avant-garde may be dangerous when innovation, subversion, individuality, and satire are literally punishable by law — but as this remarkable tome illustrates, ideas will win out every time.
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London’s 40-year-old Serpentine Gallery may have housed works by Man Ray, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons, but the gallery’s most impressive feature is its summer Pavilion series, which was created in 2000 by gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones. What started with Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid’s steel structure became an annual invitation from the gallery for an architect to design an outdoor pavilion on its lawn.
The Pavilion project has attracted some of the most world renowned architects, none of whom had designed a building in England before (yes, that’s the one stipulation). With the financial backing from various sponsors (the gallery lacks any budget for the pavilions), these architects have been able to exert their creative freedom into a project that is completed in a mere six months, and on display for an even slighter 100 days. But no matter — roughly 250,000 visitors come each year, making the installation more than twice as popular as the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Today it was announced that controversial French architect Jean Nouvel is on board for 2010′s installation. Images from the past ten years of Serpentine Pavilions, plus a closer look at Nouvel’s mock-up, after the jump.
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